Neels Gap

Hello friends!

This is Alice checking in from the Blairsville Public Library. Juniper and I just came from an "all you can eat" pizza buffet at Papa Joe's two blocks away. Alpine at Walasi-Yi let us take the crazy beat up green hiker van to town for a run. Wow! Neels Gap. Swwweet. The trail's first major stop. We did it!

I'm having such a good time. The mountains are incredible and the air is super crisp. On the first day walk from Amicalola to Springer I stopped for a water break and noticed that the red thorny stems all around me, the blue mountains, and white (looming snow!) sky were extremely "red, white, and blue." This walk is American to the core. The only miserable thing so far has been the mice at the shelters. They make me extremely paranoid and I have trouble sleeping as they scuffle around my head. Yikes! I'm having a hard time turning this problem into a spritual matter.

Blood mountain this morning was actually not as bad as I had imagined. J and I are in pretty good shape - biggest problems yet = sore knees/feet (given) and J's blister (ew!). My metabolism is taking it up a notch literally every day! Last night at Woods Hole (BEWARE it is .4 off trail) I managed to eat a whole Lipton dinner! If you know me, you'd know that was a big deal. ;0)

We haven't met a single thru-hiker yet, and hope to have the community catch up or us catch them one of these days. According to the WYi NOBO book, there are 39 people in front of us. There is a sign here at Mtn Crossings that says: "Welcome Thru-hikers: YOUR JOURNEY HAS BEGUN." That pretty much summed up how I feel! Begun! My body is holding up remarkably well. I overpacked food, but that's about it.

All day we hear no sounds except perhaps a passing plane or day hikers walking through. The first I don't mind: heck! I'm a private pilot! I l-o-v-e planes. secondly, I also love passing people. IE this morning, three very handsome rangers passed us on top of Blood. I took a giggly picture. For grandpa, of course...

Mostly my thoughts revolve around just pure gratefulness. I feel like such a guest on these hills, privileged everyday. How lucky am I to be walking so purposefully! I often feel largely unworthy of these mountains, not physically, but just by being a person. Amazing that God knows us so well, loves us so much that he cares for us more than the sparrows, the lilies. My mentor in high school told me once that the greatest problem some spiritual people she knew faced were not the chains of addiction, violence, or self-destruction, but the inability, the stubborness, to accept the grace of God. I long for these ancient mountains to sink into me, allow myself to feel like the part of creation that I am.

Whenever there is a hard hill, I just stop. Breathe. Look around- and that so far has always been enough motivation to keep my spirits high and feet moving. Sometimes if I get negative going uphill, I look down and see my feet are still movin and tell myself to stop being so hard on myself! Juniper is much faster than I, but I lead in the AM, she in the PM. She'll bound off and wait as I plod along in God's glory. Hike your own hike? We're making a good team. What a way to understand the metaphor of life's mountains - to walk them! I'm glad to be clean and fed today. Georgia will be over all too soon. For my first time in this state, it's really been a pleasure. The trail is really unfolding to us... two nights away to Hiawassee. Then a couple more to NOC. Craziness.

It is strange that in these hills of peace that one could imagine not being medatative. One thing that I have learned is that no matter where you are in the world, you STILL must be deliberate about giving space to God. Even after 4 days, I can see myself getting into a routine - wake up, eat, pack, hike, eat, drink, joke, look around, enjoy, hike, shelter, eat, bear bag, sleep... We must make the space.

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, the true beginning of Lent. I can't think of a better way to prepare for Easter than to be out here, simplifying my life and getting read to walk to road to Golgatha this annum.

"Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground." -Rumi

Livin in Love.